Yggdrasil Land Foundation News and Fundraising Campaign – July 2013
The Board of Yggdrasil Land Foundation is pleased to announce that it is currently under contract to buy and protect a valuable ~75 acre agricultural property in Elkhorn, WI. Yggdrasil has already gratefully received from major donors enough generous support to purchase this land. However, as a condition, these donors have challenged Yggdrasil to raise $30,000 – such a small amount in comparison to the covered purchase price – received in smaller and larger donations from the communities of biodynamics and Yggdrasil Land Foundation. We at Yggdrasil ask all of you who know the importance of secured land for biodynamics and sustainable agriculture to send a smaller or larger donation to our efforts to meet this challenge of $30,000. This will give this farm a warm mantle to meet the tasks of the future. Thank you!
The 60 acres is especially valuable since Krusen Grass farms leases the acreage now from the present owner and converted it to organic during their tenure. With this purchase the original dairy farm of 240 acres will have a larger guaranteed land base and organic land will not be lost to conventional practices. Because the land will be protected in perpetuity, successor farmers will receive a farm that is more viable economically and ecologically.
How is this purchase of land possible? Major donors stepped in to make lead gifts. One donor has stipulated that Yggdrasil raise $30,000 from smaller and larger donations given by others, who also want to support the lasting stewardship of agricultural land. The smaller gifts put a warm mantel of love around our project while the larger gifts provide the life that allows the project to move forward. We at Yggdrasil are grateful for the wonderful small and the important large contributions.
One additional and miraculous part of this purchase is that another donor has offered to match the entire purchase with a donation of land to Yggdrasil of equal value when the purchase of this farm is complete. This is an extraordinary opportunity to leverage the preservation of precious and needed farmland. In the end this purchase is for the caring agricultural community who know how important it is to have farmland permanently protected and stewarded.
About Yggdrasil Land Foundation:
Yggdrasil Land Foundation was founded by forward-looking individuals inspired by the ideas of Rudolf Steiner. The land foundation, primarily through land ownership, seeks to be responsible for the lasting stewardship of land by offering it to mission aligned biodynamic, organic and sustainable farmers. It holds land in perpetuity and helps farms transfer usership over generations. The land then becomes a non-monetary resource to be used by those who will care for the land and offer its bounty to the community. When the land is owned as a commodity to be speculated upon, financial priorities can demand that the land give of itself to the point of depletion. This is sadly happening through soil erosion, and the contamination of our earth water and air. Yggdrasil seeks to reverse this trend one farm at a time.
For further information contact:
Dorothy Hinkle-Uhlig: dghu@charter.net
John Bloom: john@rsfsocialfinance.org
www.yggdrasillandfoundation.org
To make a donation: visit the Yggdrasil website to donate online,or send a check made out to Yggdrasil Land Foundation with "WI land purchase" in the note field. The mailing address is: YGGDRASIL Land Foundation, 1002 O'Reilly Ave, San Francisco, CA, 94129.